With current low Solar SFI condx at 70+ Degrees North Latitude, band openings to many IOTA Chaser Geo-Areas will be very limited. I would prefer to see at least SFI= 120 like during my successful IOTA NA-050 Expedition in 2013, but this would require a QRX for several more years ;-(

The scheduled trip is Weather Dependent. If all planes fly OK, the big concern is about any unexpected solar disturbances, and the Auroral Oval possibly showing up overhead. Accordingly, "Managed Operational Focus" will be primarily to the serious IOTA Community stations on the current IOTA Honour Role & Annual Listing who regularly submit for IOTA Credit.

My new "ATNi FIRST" PROTOCOL Operating Strategy for IOTA Expeditions is clearly explained in 7 Languages with details accessible via the NA-004 webpage URL. Current 2018 IOTA Honour Roll and Annual Listing callsigns will be used. All stations will be given opportunities to call as periodically designated, but again, my PRIMARY GOAL is to put as many Serious IOTA Chasers into the log who need just ONE NA- 004 QSO for IOTA Credit.

VERY IMPORTANT: IOTA credit will be ONLY via iota-world.org "QSO MATCHING" as soon as the Expedition is Validated by IOTA LTD - MERRY CHRISTMAS 2018 !!!

Do NOT send Direct QSLs and do NOT send Bureau QSLs to K6VVA, because they will NOT be answered. Keep your $$$ and QSLs, because they are NOT needed to obtain IOTA Credit for this activation. KL7 is NOT a rare DXCC, but DXCC credit will be available after the log is uploaded to LoTW in early 2019.

As on my previous IOTA Expedition, I plan to record the entire Expedition audio, which I have found extremely useful in resolving the very few log check inquiries which may occur. I will also do an updated Propagation Analysis for NA-004 to primary IOTA Chaser Geo-Areas the day before leaving on the Expedition and based on solar levels at that time.

Updated INFO/NEWS will hopefully be available via my Locust POST INFO/NEWS Tool at http://www.k6vva.com/iota and possibly Twitter at https://twitter.com/k6vva. If I cannot make postings directly from NA-004, I do have a "Secret Pilot " in QRX mode. Depending on Internet connectivity, there may be partial log uploads to Clublog searchable in a Clublog widget on the http://www.k6vva.com/iota/na-004 webpage. However, always remember: "Hi-Tech is great, WHEN it works". FYI & 73,